Next mission: Heal rift with women voters

Posted: Thursday, June 05, 2008

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama has some urgent making up to do among a lot of angry white women - lifetime Democrats who spurned him for Hillary Clinton in the primaries and now are threatening to stay home or even vote for Republican John McCain in November.

Amid all the talk about a first black president, many women are deeply disappointed, in some cases furious, that Clinton's own historic campaign fell short and that Obama's campaign undercut her along the way. Her loss was painful for women who have encountered sex discrimination themselves, especially older women who saw her as the best hope for electing a female president in their lifetimes.

Obama himself must heal the rift with women, said Clinton fundraiser Susie Buell of San Francisco, or a new brand of "stay-at-home moms" might sit out the election.

"I know that women are very worked up right now," she said. Obama "has never apologized for the way Hillary has been treated."

"Worked up" could describe Cynthia Ruccia, a Democratic activist in Ohio who got a phone call from party chief Howard Dean about her concerns last week.

"Way too little, way too late," says Ruccia, who also says she'd prefer to see McCain elected over Obama based on how the campaign unfolded.

"This is about feeling that the party completely disrespected us, let us down, and we don't feel that we want to be with the party," she said.

Emotions boiled over at last weekend's televised meeting of a Democratic Party rules committee, when some women chanted "McCain '08" after the Clinton team lost its bid to win more disputed delegates from Michigan.

Many party insiders believe that, over time, most Clinton supporters will decide that a reluctant vote for Obama is better than a spiteful vote for McCain. Still, polls underscore Obama's challenge.

According to exit polling at voting places, white women preferred Clinton to Obama by 24 percentage points in this year's Democratic contests, even tilting toward her in 12 of the 17 states where Obama won and polls were conducted.

And a recent Pew Research Center survey found an eight-point drop in his favorability ratings since February. The center said the slip "is in some measure a negative reaction from frustrated Clinton supporters," with 43 percent of white women expressing a positive opinion of Obama, down from 56 percent in late February.

Healing the wounds will require a strong endorsement by Clinton of the man who beat her, says Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., one of Obama's most prominent female supporters. And the reality of the presidential stakes will sink in, too, she says.

"As time passes and everyone begins focusing on the differences between John McCain and Barack Obama," she said, "I think the medicine is going to be a little easier to swallow. But right now I think it's really hard for these women."